Rail-joint.



No. 633,73l. Patented Sept. 26, I899.

T. E. 353 PQNT. 7

BA. JSINT. (Application filed Her. 31, 1899.) (No Model.)

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 638,731, datedSeptember 26, 1899.

Applicatien filed March 31,1899. Serial No. 711.276. 1% model-I u/l''u'lmm, i/ nmu I'UII/III'IZ/I lie it known that I, THOMAS COLEMAN hlJcar, of Johnstown, in the county of amria and State of Pennsylvania,haveinvented 5. new and usefulIn'iprovement-in Rail-Joints,

t which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, referencebeing had to the accompanyingdrawings, which form apart of thisspecification.

to My invention relates to rail-joints',and more particularly to a jointwhich can be used with advantage in the construction of what is knownas. continuous track in lieu of the welded joints commonly employed.

The invention is designed to provide a joint of this characterwhichpossesses the essential requisites of lateral rigidity and oftensile strength sufficient to prevent any breakage or shearing of partswhen the weather becomes cold enough to tend to longitudinally contractthe rails, and thus put them under I tension.

It is further designed toprovide a joint in which the parts are heldtogetherunder such as a state or degree of compression and tension as toeffectually guard against any loosening of the parts under the constantvibration to which the rails are subjected and also all chance for playbetween the dilterent parts of the joint.

I have obtained these objects by means oi.

a joint which Phave here shown and which I will now proceed to describe.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my-imp-rovedi-aihjoint. Fig. 2

is a transverse section on the line X X of Fig.

1, showing the joint in course of construction. Fig. 3 is a similar viewshowing \the joint when completed.

4'0 In the figures, A and B designate the trackrails. C, C, O", and Oare the splice-bars, two upon each side, and D and E represent rivets.

In constructing the joint the rails A and 13 are provided, by the use ofa milling-tool, with the smooth surfaces a, I), c, and (-1, adjacent tothe webs, the upper milled surfaces being slight] y uppercut, orinclined upwardly, while thelower surfaces 0 and cl are in a similarmanner somewhat undercut, or inclined dmvnwardly.- The edges of thesplice-bars are also "inachincd to provide the smoothjoinl surfaces (1,I), and (7', which fit, rcspeetivcly, the surfaces (1, f, and d. Thedistances 1! to c and b to (1'' should be about one one-hundredth of aninch greater than the distances from u. to and I) to d, respectively. Bythis relative arrangement-bf distauces a considerable expenditure oflateral pressure is required in order to forcethe 6o splice-bars fromthe positions shown in Fig.

2 to their final positions. (Shown in Fig. o.) Said bars are consequcn'tl y put'in such a state ofpositive compression and the rails insucha condition of altitudinal tension as to ei'fec tually guard against anytendency toward looscness under vibration. The contiguous faces or edgesof eaclmdjaceut pair of splicebars are also machined to give them theinnor rounded portionsc and the outer [lat sur-' 79 faces e, so thatsaid bars will roll upon each other in assuming their seated positionsunder the lateral pressure employed, but wile-11* seated will form aclose flush external joint.

The preparation of the splice-bars and, where possible, the-milling ofthe rails I prefer to have done at a place adjacent to that at which therails are rolled.

Where the track is to be laid I provide a riveting-machine of anysuitable type having 80 the requisite pressure. By means of this machineI first seat the large rivets D, which pass through all four of thesplieebars. This forces the bars to assume their final positions.

As many of the smaller rivets E are't'hen seated as are necessary toenable the joint to stand the tensile stress which the rails are liableto receive during the cold weather. Bolts may of coursebe used in placeof the rivets, although I prefer the latter. Owing to the inclined orbeveled, formation of the surfaces at, b, c, and (Z, the splice-barsbecome finally seated in a manner to greatly resist an} tendency toseparate from or move upon the rail or upon each other, therebyrelieving 9 5 materially the strain upon the rive-ts andflse curing themaintenance of the ciliciency oi the joint if "by any reason the rivetsshould become in part defective. It will also be seen that in theabsence of any rivetsor auxiliary -wise it becomes difficult orimpracticable to effect a welded joint. In such instaneesthedesirability of a joint of this character issuch as to outweigh thesomewhat increased ex; 'pense due to the milling or machining of thejoint faces. With the exception of these machined faces, however,neither the rails nor the splice-bars require an; special conforn'ia-Lion, being free from tongues, grooves, and the like, and bolts orrivets of the usual character are the only adjuncts which are requircd.

Having thus described my invention, what- I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is"

1. Ina rail-joint, the etmibination with the rails having the undersides of their heads and the upper sides of their'base-iianges adjacentto the web, machined to remove the normal incline thereof andto provideflat bearing-faces, of splice-bars havingmachined fiat upper and loweredges and of greater width than the distance between the upper and lowerbearing-faces oi the rails, whereby as said bars are forced between saidfaces toward parallelism with the rail-webs, they are put underacondition of altitudinal compres sion, and are clamped in positionbetween the head and base-flanges of the rails.

2. The combination with the rails having machined upper and lowerinc-lined bearingsurfaces at their joint portions, adjacent to theweb,said upper and lower surfaces being slightly undercut in oppositedirections of splice-bars having machined edges to fit saidbearing-surfaces, and means for securing said bars in a state ofaltitudinal compression with their machined edges bearing against saidmachined surfaces.

3. The combination with a pair of rails hav- I lug inwardly and upwardlyinclined finished surfaces, adjacentto their webs, below their head andtramfincmbers, and inwardly and downwardly inclined finished surfacesadjacent to their webs, above the flange members, of splice-bars havingfiat machined edges to tit respectively the saidsurfaces, and means forsecuring the bars in a state of altitudinal compression with the innerportions of their.

machined edges fitting the angles formed by the said inclined surfacesand the adjacent portions ofthe rails.

t. The combination with the rails having the upper and lower machinedsurfaces adjacent to the webs, oft-he four splice-bars, t-wo upon eachside, each ol. said bars having one of'its edges machined to lit one ofthe mach ined surfaces of the rails, and its other edge machined to forma partly-flat and a partlyroundcd face to lita correspond"ugly-formedface of the contiguous bar, the flat portions of said edges being towardthe-outer faces of the bars wheicby said bars may roll upon each otherin moving from an angular to an alined position and will present a closeexternal joint when in the latter position, and means for securing saidbars under compression.

5. The combination with the rails having upper and lower machinedsurfaces ad jaceit to their webs-,of the fourspl-ice-bars, two upon eachside, having their longitudinal edges machined to fit respectively thesaid surfaces 7 and the edges of contiguous bars, the. large rivets orbolts, each of which passes through all four of said bars and through;one of the rails, and the smaller rivets or bblts, each of which passesthrough two of said bars and one of the rails, and which are seatedsubscrquently to the seating of the large rivet-s.

b. The combination with the rails having adjacent to their webs, andupon each side faces which slightly recede from each other toward theweb, of the splice-bars having machined edges to fit the said surfaces,and

means for securing said bars to the rails in av state of altitudi-nalcompression.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature-in presence of twowitnesses.

'l. DU PONT. \Vitnesses;

RICHARD Evan, MYRTLE E. Stratum.

thereof, upper and lower flat machined sur

